Nothing is True
by Saploerex
Summary: While walking around Chicago one day, Aiden sees a tag pop up on something that catches his eye. It seems familiar to him, but why? And just who is Desmond Miles?
1. Chapter 1

Aiden walked down Congress Street, eyes on his phone, as usual. He was watching for any signs of trouble, anyone with a violence or victim warning, or just anyone interesting at all.

It had been fairly uneventful these past few weeks in Chicago. He had stopped a few would-be killers, but other than that, nothing. Then he saw a tag that caught his eye; Desmond Miles, until recently was presumed deceased, member of the Assassin's Brotherhood, under Dedsec surveillance. The name seemed familiar to Aiden, but from where? Of course! When he was gaining access to one of the CtOS control centers, his name was on several of the files that Aiden took when he was leaving. He hadn't had the chance to look through them yet, but when he got home he would be sure to.

At an impulse, Aiden decided to go over to Desmond. He was sitting at a Starbucks, drinking a coffee as he read the newspaper. Aiden ordered a coffee, then sat across from Desmond, noticing a device on his wrist, a blade of some kind. Desmond looked up from his paper at Aiden.

"May I help you?" Desmond asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice. "Who are you?" Aiden replied. "Name's Desmond, and yours?" he said as he looked back at his newspaper. "Aiden." "So, Aiden, any reason in particular that you sat across from me a minute ago, even when there are plenty of other tables here?" Desmond said, obviously irritated that Aiden was sitting there. "Well, I was kind of hoping you could answer some questions for me." "Alright, what are they?" Desmond said, obviously not paying much attention, judging by the look on his face. "Why were you presumed to be dead, what is the Assassin Brotherhood, and why are you under Dedsec surveillance?" Aiden asked. That got Desmond's attention.

"How do you know about all that?" Desmond whispered angrily at Aiden. Aiden hesitated with his answer. "I have access to the city's CtOS, it lets me control nearly anything in the city, and also see interesting facts about anyone and anything." Aiden replied. "I see." Desmond said, leaning back in his chair. "And how, exactly, did you get access to it?" "A friend." was all Aiden said.

Desmond was quiet for a few moments. He was thinking about if whether Aiden could help him or not with getting his revenge on Abstergo. He thought about it for a little while longer, then he looked back at Aiden. "Do you think you could help me with something? You seem like someone I can trust." "And what, would that be?" Aiden replied with. "I'll tell you about it, but not here. It's too insecure here, there are cameras everywhere." Aiden nodded in understanding. "We can talk at my place, it's secure. If you want to, that is." "Sure, works for me." Desmond said."

Once they were at Aiden's apartment, they sat down at Aiden's kitchen table. Desmond looked around, noticing every little detail with his eagle vision, checking that there were no bugs or hidden cameras. He noticed that there were several blue chairs in Aiden's sitting room. Perhaps he was going through some emotional distress when he bought them, or perhaps he just liked the color blue. "So, what were you going to say? Something about helping you with something?" Aiden asked. "Ah, yes. About a year ago I was kidnapped by the company called Abstergo, and they forced me to relive my ancestor's memories with a device called the Animus in order to locate extremely powerful pieces of technology left behind by the civilization that came before us. Now, Abstergo is-" "Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. Ancient technology, you say? The civilization that came before us? A device that lets you relive your ancestor's memories? I'm sorry, but this seems rather far-fetched."

(Note of warning: you can skip the next paragraph if you know the history of Assassin's Creed)

Desmond grinned at Aiden. "I knew you wouldn't believe my story." "Of course I wouldn't believe it! You expect me to believe that?" Aiden replied back with. "Well, it's the truth." "Mmmhm." "Look, why don't I slow things down, add in some details?" "Great, put some sense into your story. Make it more believable." Desmond grinned at Aiden again, putting his feet up on the table as he did. "You know of the Crusades, the religious wars that lasted for two hundred years, led by the Templars?" Aiden nodded. "Good, we can start there." Aiden rolled his eyes. Not noticing, Desmond continued. "The Knights Templar were the most skilled soldiers in the Crusades, personally funded by the Church to lead the attacks. But what people don't know, is that they were around from before the Crusades, and after them as well. I won't go too far into depth because I have to be somewhere later today, but essentially, there were two factions; the Templars, and the Assassins. The Templars want to save humanity by controlling people's will, and to restrict their freedom. The Assassins want to preserve free will, as it allows for new ideas, and the growth of individuality. Now, over thousands of years, these two factions have battled in the shadows, occasionally getting a Piece of Eden, a device which was created by the civilization before humanity, that has vast power, and they have used these devices to gain the upper hand in battles, manipulate those around them, become kings and queens, anything they desired. Now, the company you know as Abstergo is the modern day face of the Templars, and they had gathered several of these Pieces of Eden, and were planning to attach them to their satellite, Eye-Abstergo, and end the fighting once and for all. But they still needed a few more pieces, and that's when they kidnapped me. You see, my bloodline is that of some of the most skilled Assassins, which were also ones who knew where certain Pieces were hidden. So I was forced to relive the memories of one my ancestors via the Animus, the device I told you about earlier, and locate his piece. Well, eventually I was rescued by the Assassins, and we went back to their hideout. Then I relived another of my ancestor's memories, then we had to move when our hideout was compromised, and we located his Piece of Eden, the Apple. Oh, I forgot to mention, because of all the time I've spent in the Animus, I have the skills of all of them. Which is helpful in more situations than I thought it would be. Anyway, back to the history lesson."

By this point, Aiden was fascinated with what Desmond was saying. "When we got the Apple, a memory of one of the First Civilization was left in the Temple that the Apple was in, and it turns out that she was more than just a memory, more like a spirit. I spent a bit more time in the Animus, came to America where the 'Grand Temple' was located, and I went into the Animus again, and attempted to locate the key to the big room of the Temple. But, my friends were trying to look for power sources to power up the other rooms of the Temple, and long story short, Abstergo kidnapped my dad. We went there, and I walked right in, and killed them using the Apple." Desmond's voice had gotten a bit darker at this point. "I forced the guards to point their guns at Warren, the man who kidnapped me, and now my dad, and I forced them to kill him. Then I made them kill themselves. And then I walked out of there, destroying the minds of anyone who got in our way on our way out." Desmond's voice went back to normal again. "And then we located the key to the big door of the Temple, and walked through, and then I was told I had to use my life source to power a device that would save the world from an oncoming solar flare. I take it you remember that flare? The big one that was supposed to destroy the world on December 21st, 2012?" Aiden nodded. "Yeah, of course I remember, that was all anyone was talking about at the time." "Right, so anyway. I powered it, and I was killed. But when I did it, it also released the member of the First Civilization, the one I mentioned before. As thanks for this, she gave me my life back. And that's my story."

Aiden didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at Desmond. He looked so relaxed, his feet were on the table, his hands were in his lap. But then Aiden looked into his eyes, and they had a look in them, a look that Aiden had seen before. It was a look that said he was telling the truth. "Wow." Aiden said slowly. "You're telling the truth." Desmond nodded. "So, you want to help me with the thing I mentioned back at the coffee shop, or not?" "That depends, what is it?" Aiden leaned back in his chair as he asked Desmond, mimicking how he was sitting. "One of my friends who was helping me back during the 'adventure' I was telling you about is in town, and I want to talk to him. But I need to make sure he's alone when I talk to him, and that there are no cameras around, because someone from Abstergo could see us together, and that wouldn't be good." "Someone from Abstergo? It's a big city, you know. The chances an employee of theirs sees you two together would be pretty small." "You don't know how far their reach extends, how many sleeper agents they have." Desmond thought back to his friend, Lucy. "Alright, I'll help you. What do I need to do?" Aiden asked. "You found out that stuff about me using your phone, right? I take it you can do that with others?" "Of course." "Good, I'll need you to check for anyone with any history of anything having to do with Abstergo and make sure you keep them away from us." "Okay, but I'm still not convinced my services will be necessary." "Hey, it doesn't hurt to be safe." Aiden shrugged. "True." Aiden handed him a small piece of paper. "Here's my phone number, call me when you want to talk to your friend." "Thanks, I'll be sure to." Desmond said, standing up. As he turned to leave, Aiden stopped him. "Hey, you still haven't said why you're under Dedsec surveillance." Desmond looked him right in the eye and said "Because they have an Apple of Eden, and they know I want it." Their eyes remained locked for a few more seconds, then Desmond turned and left.

Aiden wondered what he had gotten himself into. He sat down, and turned on his phone to watch Desmond leave the building through the cameras. But when he got to the end of the hallway, instead of taking the elevators or going down the stairs, he jumped out the window. Aiden quickly changed cameras to see him slide down the wall, landing effortlessly on the ground, seemingly unharmed. Interesting, Aiden thought to himself. He set his phone on the table, as he turned to go to his study, where he was going to read through those files he stole from one of the CtOS data centers, the one with Desmond's name on it. As he left the room he heard his phone ping with a new message. He would get it later, he thought. Right now, there was research to be done.


	2. Chapter 2

~CHAPTER 2~

As Aiden was reading through the files, he realized it was basically an extended version of the events Desmond had already told him. But earlier on in the file, Desmond was referred to as Subject 17. He would have to ask Desmond about that later, Aiden thought. As he put that file aside, he looked at the others he had taken from the data center. Ge grabbed the one at the top, marked 'Edward Kenway Project' and opened it up. It was full of information about pirates, a new Animus to support the genetic memories of others, something about a new office opening up in Montreal being the lead developers for the project, and also working on bug fixes for something called the bleeding effect. It didn't take long before Aiden realized that this was some insanely complicated stuff that was being dealt with over at Abstergo. He closed the folder, set it on his desk, and went back into his kitchen to get a snack.

As he did, he noticed his phone sitting on the table, and the ping from earlier. He picked it up and went to his inbox. The new message was just 'Thanks! :) - Matt' It took Aiden a minute to realize what had happened. Someone had hacked into his phone's microphone and heard everything he and Desmond had said. But how could anyone have hacked his phone? It was probably the most secure device in Chicago. Then he remembered when Desmond had said, about how he didn't know how far Abstergo's reach could extend. If that was the case, then Aiden would need to seriously improve his security before he visited Desmond again, in case someone tried to listen in again.

Aiden decided he might as well do it now instead of later, so he headed downstairs to the parking garage underneath his apartment, looking out the window Desmond climbed out of as he went. As Aiden got in his car, he called Clara, the tech-wizard who had gotten him into the CtOS in the first place. " Hey Aiden, you need something?" Clara said.

"Yeah… I think my phone was hacked earlier and I need you to check it out and maybe improve the security." Aiden told her, driving out of the garage.

"You know the security system you've got on that thing is basically like a digital version of the Pentagon, right?"

"Yeah, but I can hack into the Pentagon. And if I can, someone else can too. Which I think may be the case here."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. Meet me by the pawn shop in the Wards, the one we met at a few weeks back. You remember it, right?"

"Yeah, I remember it. Can you be there in half an hour?"

"Done."

And with that, the call ended.

When Aiden got to the pawn shop, he found Clara already there, leaning against a wall. "Hey." He said as he walked up to her. "Hey, yourself. Now, if I could have your phone, I'll try giving your security software some updates." He handed his phone over to her, and she began to open files and dig into the code of it. "So, what makes you think it's been hacked?" Clara asked Aiden.

"I was having this conversation with-" he hesitated. Clara looked up at him, an eyebrow raised.

"With a what?" She asked him.

"With a friend. Anyway, I was talking with him about the city's CtOS, and after he had left I got a message saying thanks and a smiley face from someone named Matt."

"Matt… Can't say that I know any Matts." Clara said. "But, what I can tell you, is that your phone was definitely hacked, the microphone was being used remotely."

"Can you trace it?"

"No, whoever did this was good. On the bright side, though. Nothing was taken, and I've updated your security so that this kind of thing _shouldn't _happen again."

"Shouldn't?"

"No promises. Anything else?"

"No, that's about it."

"Alright then." Clara said, handing Aiden his phone back. She then turned around and walked off.

Aiden turned to go, then said to her "Hey, wait." Clara turned back around, an eyebrow raised. "Yeeees?" she asked. "What do you know about Abstergo?" Aiden asked her. Clara hesitated. "Don't get yourself into trouble, Aiden. I don't know what you're up to, but if that's who you think has hacked you, then you could be in some very serious trouble." She left without saying another word. Aiden thought about what she said for a moment before leaving, himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Desmond walked down North State Street, looking at the Ambrose Theatre as he did. Desmond remembered reading something in a news article about the owner of some exhibit being shot outside. The only reason it came to mind was because it was one of the first things he read after escaping from Abstergo's offices. He thought back to that night, remembering how it all started.

Desmond opened his eyes. He was lying on a cold metal table, still wearing his white hoodie and jeans. His shoes and bag were missing, but he could always find new ones. The last thing he remembered was touching the glowing pedestal in the Grand Temple. He sat up, and looked around. He was in a laboratory of some sort, with what appeared to be a scientist working at a desk with her back turned to him. He quietly got up from the table and tiptoed over to a door. When he got close to it, it opened automatically without making a sound. He snuck out and found himself in a hallway. There were guards facing an open doorway at one end, and in front of him was a window that led to a large courtyard. He didn't see any other doors, so he realized his only option was to either go through the guards, which he noticed were carrying what appeared to be machine guns, or to jump out the window. Desmond braced as he hit the window, shattering the glass and setting off alarms. He hit the ground, which was fortunately only a floor down, and did a roll to break his fall. He then sprinted over to what looked like an exit as the guards shot at him. There were gates closing down on the doors, but he since he was fairly close he made it before they shut. More guards appeared as Desmond ducked behind a security desk. They all ran past him and opened the gates, thinking he was still in the courtyard. He carefully ran over to a window, as the doors were all gated, opened it, and climbed out. He was free from Abstergo, for now, at least. He walked over to a newspaper dispenser and picked one up, hoping to find out the date. The headlines said something about some DeMarco guy being shot.

Desmond was brought back to reality when a woman bumped into him. "Oh, sorry!" She said in a surprised voice. She then carried on with where she was going and left Desmond to his thoughts. He sat down, thinking about just how much his life had changed over the past year. Sometimes he just wanted to go back to being a bartender, but he knew that could never happen again. Not with the war between Templars and Assassins going on, at least. Desmond got up again and kept walking.

Aiden hopped out of his car, but when he did his trench coat must have caught on something and he fell on his face on the sidewalk. "Oh geez, are you okay?" A lady said, walking over to him and helping him up. "Yeah, I think I'm fine, thanks." The woman recoiled when she saw his face. "Uh, dude, no you aren't. You're bleeding, um, kind of a lot…"

"I'm sure it's just a flesh wound." Aiden said, quoting one of his favorite movies.

"Although props for that reference, you seriously should see a doctor."

"That bad?" Aiden flinched as he said that, feeling the blood dripping down his face.

"Yeah, pretty bad…" Hey, I guess I can take you to one, I'm not doing anything important." The woman said.

"Oh, no, that's not necessary." Aiden replied.

"Dude, if you could see what I'm seeing, you'd want to come with me too."

"You sure?"

"I think I passed a clinic a little while back actually, it's only a few minutes away, it shouldn't take long."

"Alright, fine…"

They headed off down the street, the woman recognized Aiden. "Hey, aren't you the guy that was in the news awhile back? You're a vigilante, right?"

"I guess you could call me that."

"I knew it! I knew I had seen you somewhere before! Aiden Pearce, right?"

"That's me. By the way, what's your name?"

"Rebecca. Rebecca Crane."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rebecca."


	4. Chapter 4

When they got to the clinic, they found it nearly empty except for the employees. "Hey, how can I help y-ah okay, I'll get the doctor right away." the lady at the desk said. "I did tell you it was pretty bad." Rebecca said to Aiden. In return, Aiden offered a smile that Rebecca was pretty sure was sarcastic. They stood awkwardly for a few moments before Aiden decided to break the silence.

"So, Rebecca. What brings you to Chicago? Or do you live here?"  
"Actually, I am here on business. I got a text from someone from work telling me to meet them in Chicago. Since I was already in the general area, and my current assignment had just finished, I figured I'd take some time off and head over here."

"I see."

"Yup." Rebecca nodded.

"The doctor will see you now, please follow me." The receptionist told them before walking down a hallway. Aiden and Rebecca followed her, until they got to a small room. "He'll be another few minutes, he's just finishing up a checkup with another client."

"Okay, thanks." Aiden replied. "Oh, so did your friend say why they wanted to meet you here?"

"No, they didn't, actually. I'm pretty sure it's just an elaborate prank, I didn't even recognize the number they texted me from, but they did say a secret I've only told a few people from work, so I know it's one of them. Just not sure which."

"Huh, that's kind of weird." Aiden said as a man walked into the room. The man who they could only presume was the doctor, had on a tie with an interesting swirl pattern, a blue suit under his lab coat, rectangular black-rimmed glasses, and hair that went in an almost spiky half-quiff. Aiden noticed all of this because the man seemed very, _very_ familiar to him. Rebecca also noticed how similar he seemed.

"Hey, have we met before? You seem _really_ familiar." Rebecca asked.

"Well, we might have. I get around." The man said in a Scottish accent.

"No, I swear I've seen you before." Rebecca insisted.

"Like I said, I get around a lot." The doctor said.

"Grr, where have I seen you before?!" Rebecca practically shouted.

"Um, anyway, what seems to be the prob-oh." the doctor inhaled deeply before swallowing as he looked at Aiden. "That, I'm guessing, is the problem."

"You guessed it." Aiden said, with another sarcastic smile.

"Well, let's see what we can do about that…"

Desmond looked around before walking into the repair store. As he did, a bell on the door rang, and a man walked out from behind the counter. "How can I help you?" a large, man cheerfully asked Desmond.

"Well, I'd like you to repair this for me." Desmond said as he placed a few pieces of a broken object on the counter.

"I can probably do that, but do you have any blueprints or original designs for it?"

"Oh, yeah, 'course."

Desmond placed a few sheets of paper with designs on them on the counter.

"So this is some kind of blade?" The man said, looking over the designs.

"Yeah, so when can you have it fixed?"

"Well, I've got a few other projects I'm working on at the moment, but I could probably have it done in two weeks. That'll do for you?"

Desmond bit his lip and looked at the broken blade.

"I kind of need it sooner. Perhaps I could pay you a bit extra to have it repaired sooner?"

"That depends, how much extra?" The man said, clearly interested.

Desmond placed several hundred dollar bills on the table.

"That much."

"Come back tomorrow, it'll be done by then."

Desmond nodded in understanding before leaving the store.

Soon, the blade would be his again.

"Thanks again!"

"No problem, just try not to do _that_ again to your face, please." The doctor said as Aiden and Rebecca left the clinic.

"Yeah man, although this has been fun, I should probably get going, and I would prefer if you didn't do whatever you did again, 'cuz that was pretty bad." Rebecca said. Aiden chuckled, "Well, I'll try not to."

"That was pretty weird though, how fast he was able to fix your face."

"Yeah, you're right. It was pretty weird."

"Well, modern technology is pretty amazing."

Aiden chuckled again. "It certainly is."

He got a text, so he pulled out his phone and checked it. It was from Desmond, he wanted to meet at [FILL THIS IN YO] in an hour. Aiden wasn't doing anything important then, so he said he would meet Desmond there.

"So, what are you gonna do next, Rebecca?" Aiden said, putting his phone in his pocket.

"Well, after I got that text from that anonymous person, I also got a link to this page that had a reservation for a hotel. So I figured I'd head over there."

"Oh, that's pretty cool."

"Yeah, I looked it up and apparently it's pretty fancy place too. I'm looking forward to it, I heard they have private hot tubs."

"I take it you know how to get there?"

"Yeah, I've got GPS, I'll be fine."

"Okay, well, this is my stop." Aiden said, stopping in front of a MicroCenter.

"Ah, MicroCenter. Love those guys. What are you getting?"

"Oh, uh," Aiden hesitated, then figured she wouldn't believe him if he told the truth anyway. Besides, the entire city knew what he was up to.

"I'm looking for a more powerful processor for my phone so that I can access more secure data, the city's upgraded to try to keep people like me out."

Rebecca laughed. Aiden was offput by her reaction, "What's so funny?"

"That's ALL? Dude, I can get you a likely more powerful processor. And anyways, you can't get phone processors at MicroCenter."

"I had ordered one a little while ago and they sent it there since it was the closest tech-store."

"Ah, okay, I see."

"Wait, how can you get me phone processors? Technically, you aren't supposed to be able to buy them at all."

"I know people. You know Abstergo?"

Aiden remembered what Desmond said earlier, about Abstergo kidnapping him and forcing him to relive his ancestor's memories.

"Yeah, of course I know them. They're a pretty big company."

"Well, I've got a friend who works for them that can get me all kinds of cool tech-stuff. But I suppose you don't really need one, since you've got one already."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll be going now. See you around, maybe, I dunno."

"Okay, see you around, Aiden."

As Aiden walked inside he went up to the counter where new orders are shipped in.

"Hi, what can I help you with?" The man at the counter asked Aiden.

"There should be an order for me, under Pearce."

"Oh yes, it just got here a few hours ago, good timing."

He handed Aiden a piece of paper and a pen. "I'm gonna need you to sign here." he said, pointing at a line on the paper. Aiden did as he requested and signed it, then the man thanked him and handed him a box. "Have a good day, sir!"

"You too." Aiden said, taking the box and leaving the store. With this processor, he'd have the power to hack even the toughest of security grids.

Even Abstergo's.


End file.
